Post-Standard: Poll Watching Problems

Posted by Howie Hawkins513.20pc on November 05, 2013

Green Party member Ursula Rozum, the campaign manager for city council candidate Howie Hawkins, said Green Party poll watchers encountered cooperation from some inspectors but not from others. "We have had a really hard time,'' she said.

Onondaga County elections officials settle poll-watching disputes

By Tim Knauss

November 05, 2013 at 8:09 PM

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County elections commissioners had to sort out several polling place disputes today between election inspectors and political party representatives who asked for information about who had voted.

As part of their get-out-the-vote operations, party officials like to keep track of who has voted so they can focus their last-minute phone calls on those who have not.

Typically, that information is gathered by poll watchers who stand by all day to get the name of each person who votes from election inspectors, said Dustin Czarny, the county's Democratic elections commissioner. Poll watchers are allowed to gather that information, Czarny said.

But at several sites, poll watchers showed up late and asked to see the official poll book for the names of people who had voted, which is not allowed, Czarny said. "That's a no-no,'' Czarny said. "We never let anybody go through the poll book.''

Complaints came in from Republican and Green Party poll watchers who said they were unable to get information about who had voted, Czarny said.

As a compromise, Czarny and Republican Commissioner Helen Kiggins Walsh told inspectors they could use slack time when nobody was voting to read off to poll watchers the names of people who had voted, Czarny said.

Tom Dadey, Onondaga County Republican chairman, went to Nottingham High School personally to make sure that inspectors would give the names to his poll watchers if time permitted. Dadey said he wanted to know who had voted already "so we don't bug them again with a phone call at 6 o'clock.''

Green Party member Ursula Rozum, the campaign manager for city council candidate Howie Hawkins, said Green Party poll watchers encountered cooperation from some inspectors but not from others. "We have had a really hard time,'' she said.